Starting a Cryptocurrency Business? Bank Somewhere Else

Banks Do Not Support Cryptocurrency-Related Businesses

Banks do not support cryptocurrency-related businesses today. Their message is “Bank somewhere else”.

Barclays, Chase, Bank of America and many others are sending this message to companies in the cryptocurrency arena.

As we close out 2018 going into 2019, hundreds of businesses in the cryptocurrency sector were forced to find new banking partners or fully shut down their companies.

As recently as September 2018, one of the largest Cryptocurrency Exchanges in India, Zebpay went out of business because the banks rejected his busness. This was a result of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s newly enforced regulations against cryptocurrency-related businesses. The interesting take-away is that cryptocurrencies were not banned.

Zebpay wrote:

The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customer’s, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business.

This is the fate of many cryptocurrency-related businesses.

David Ripley, COO of the cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, had this to say:

For the most part, the larger banks in the U.S. have stayed away from banking cryptocurrency businesses. In the U.S. and particularly Europe, we see smaller, more technologically advanced banks partnering with cryptocurrency businesses.

Both HSBC and Barclays in the UK shut down the account of 50Cycles according to Scott Snaith, the owner of retal business that sells cryptocurrency mining electric bicycles. The individuals involved in the transaction were KYC-verified and had identification on file.

Banks in the UK, India and dozens of other countries are ignoring companies in the cryptocurrency space. This has driven many companies out of Britain and into countries such as Gibraltar, Malta, Poland, Bulgaria and others. Britain claims to be the global fintech hub but they aren’t walking the walk.

More Cryptocurrency-Related Bank Accounts Frozen

Another example is BlockEx, a plaform for trading cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. The head of BlockEx capital markets said that Metro Bank shut down its UK account which forced them to use a Bulgarian financial institution. He wrote,

Nobody will give us a bank account in the UK.

They are currently located in the UK but they also have an office in the country of Luxembourg.

Cryptocurrency-Related Businesses Bank Accounts Frozen

In October of this year, the Bank of Zambia began its shut down policy on cryptocurrency-related businesses as well. This is after the Zambian Central Bank announced that cryptocurrencies, and more specifically, Bitcoin is not legal tender. They have no authority to prohibit cryptocurrency activity but the sting still hurts, nonetheless.

Another incident occurred in October of this year by a Canadian bank. One of the largest exchanges based in Vancouver, QuadrigaCX, reports that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) froze the bank accounts associated with their payment provider. This amounted to $22million in frozen funds since January 2018. The funds belonged to almost 400 users of QuadrigaCX.

A few weeks ago, a judge agreed with the CIBC and ordered that the $22million be turned over to the Ontario Superior Court.

Back in July of this year, one of the 4 top Korean exchanges, Bithumb had its bank account frozen. This forced them to disable all new customer accounts.

There are a boatload of other examples citing frozen business and consumer banking accounts as a result of conducting cryptocurrency transactions.

Now What?

This pattern of the old, staid financial institutions being inflexible is old news. In the short-term, many cryptocurrency-related businesses will suffer. The stifling of innovation by the “Big Boys and Girls” occurs cross all industries until it is too late for them to react.

The question then becomes:

Where can cryptocurrency-related businesses such as ICOs, cryptocurrency market places, exchanges, and trading platforms transact business?

One of the major parameters necessary to witness the growth of the cryptocurrency-related businesses is for financial institutions and payment providers to work with these businesses.

By not doing so, it not only negatively affects the cryptocurrency sector but it also affects consumers and squashes innovative startups. In the USA alone, consumers have already experienced the pain associated with major credit card companies and banks disallowing consumer cryptocurrency transactions.

Although there are cryptocurrency banks and payment gateway providers coming out of the woodworks in countries such as Gibraltar, Bulgaria, Malta, Liechtenstein and Lithuania, there is definitely a lot of room for global expansion and innovation.

When talking about innovation, there is one company that is walking the walk.

Cashaa

Cashaa is a next generation banking platform where Cryptocurrency and FIAT can co-exist peacefully.

As stated in a press release:

The Crypto community has continuously been denied support from high street banks who like to talk and sponsor blockchain events but in reality do not want the blockchain revolution to happen.

As written on Cashaa’s website:

Crypto-related businesses are underserved by banks. Our goal is to create a hassle-free experience for ICO-backed companies, exchanges, wallets, and brokers.

What is impressive about Cashaa is that they didn’t rush to market to roll out just another platform. They took months and months to ensure that they were fully compliant in terms of financial regulations. Their ICO required KYC for everyone. Cashaa refunded about $15million of approx. $30million of the funds they received from the ICO. No KYC … No Participation. That shows they are serious about regulatory and compliance requirements.

Cashaa was well aware that they needed to lock arms with regulators while embracing innovative change at the same time. They are one of the first cryptocurrency-related financial institutions that is licensed to do business in the UK (Britain) by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

That was quite a lengthy and arduous process which took about 7 months but now they have a stamp of approval to go forward.

So what is Cashaa’s business model?

On the consumer side

Cashaa provides a Cryptocurrency / FIAT bank account and full-featured mobile wallet. Consumers are able to transfer funds to 120 countries quickly and seamlessly via instant bank transfers and scheduled payments. The wallet is all encompassing even moreso than a traditional bank account. You can see what you are spending currency on as well as set spending targets for certain categories of purchases.

In addition, the Cashaa card will be globally accepted and consumers can earn reward points.

No longer will consumers have to be constrained by the behemoth financial institutions as they dictate what people can or cannot do with their hard-earned currencies … be it Crypto or Fiat.

On the business side

Cashaa’s target business market are companies who understand how critical it is to be KYC/AML compliant. KYC/AML is “Know Your Customer identification requirements and Anti-Money Laundering Act” . This eliminates any future possibilities of Cashaa coming under scrutiny in this regards by regulators and compliance officers.

The criminal element has no home at Cashaa and the fake exit scam ICOs aren’t welcome.

As the media oftentimes position cryptocurrency in an unsavory light, Cashaa is a very refreshing, much needed player in the cryptocurrency sector.